Glycine

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Glycine is the most simple amino acid.

Drag the structure with the mouse to rotate

Glycine is the simplest amino acid. It's sidechain (sometimes called the R-group) is one hydrogen atom. Because it has a hydrogen atom as its sidechain, glycine is the only achiral amino acid. Because it lacks a bulky sidechain, glycine has a high degree of rotational freedom and is frequently found in turns along with proline.

Representations

  • The ball and stick (also called "ball and spoke") representation of glycine shows atoms and covalent bonds, but does not show the true size and shape of the molecule.
  • The spacefilling representation shows size (atoms at their van der Waals radii) and shape but hides structure behind the surface.
  • The stick representation shows only bonds, and is better for seeing through layers of a large molecule. Even better for proteins are schematic backbone representations, including ribbon or cartoon representations.
  • In this view, the atoms that would, in a polypeptide chain, become part of the peptide backbone (main chain) are highlighted. See also Protein Main Chain.

See Also

Proteopedia Page Contributors and Editors (what is this?)

Eric Martz, Eran Hodis

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